


Stubborn

by crowningandpushing



Category: No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Breeding, Claiming Bites, Come Inflation (slight), Explicit childbirth, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mpreg, Mutual Pining, Overstimulation, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Kink, Unplanned Pregnancy, erotic birth, they're idiots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:00:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27577550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crowningandpushing/pseuds/crowningandpushing
Summary: Evan has always been stubborn, for an omega.
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 9
Kudos: 112





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to have been just a kink thing but then I fucked around and went too hard on the yearning. Whoops.

Evan Fields had always been stubborn, for an omega.

To his credit, he’d be considered stubborn by any designation, and it wasn’t as if anybody outside a select few even knew he was an omega anyway — both facts he was incredibly proud of. 

Between being nearly thirty and unmated, working in a field very heavily dominated by alphas, topping out at an impressive six foot one — practically unheard of for an omega — and lacking all the soft bodily curves typically associated with his designation, he passed easily as a beta as long as he took his suppressants and wore his scent blockers. Which he did. Religiously.

To most, he was known for his sharp tongue and cool intellect, and the facade of disinterested aloofness was one he had worked hard to craft over the years. He was content to let himself have the reputation of being a snake in the grass, ready to lash out and defy even the most domineering alphas, cutting them down to the quick with ease when they least expected and most deserved it. He kept his dark eyes sharp and calculating instead of gentle, his black hair cut short instead of allowing it to grow, and his body in as good of shape as he could maintain, all in the attempt to conceal the softness of his status, and for the last almost decade, it’d worked perfectly.

Only a handful of people in the _world_ knew the truth. The first was Evan’s older brother, Eli, a beta and the most protective non-alpha he’d ever known. His doctor knew, naturally. Evan’s denial of his designation didn’t extend to the point of self neglect, and besides, it was the only way to get prescription grade suppressants. Most humiliatingly, his boss also knew. He’d been mortified at the prospect of telling him when he’d been hired, had waited until the last possible moment of the process and had armed himself to the teeth with his knowledge of legal protections, and was surprised to have them all waived away under the condition that he give advance notice and tried to work from home when he was on his heats. 

Luckily, he didn’t have heats often. One every six months — give or take, depending on how long it took Eli to gently nag and bully him into it — he went off his suppressants. His doctor had explained it was to flush the drugs from his system and prevent any long term damage to his reproductive health. Evan had rolled his eyes at that, he had no intention of ever being bred, but with it being a condition of the prescription, he obeyed. Two heats a year was better than twelve, at least. 

Once in January and once in June, he’d schedule a week off from work and stock up on groceries and other necessities before skipping his morning pill and holing up in his apartment. After a restless few hours, he’d nest, curling up in a pile of blankets and pillows brought out for this express purpose, alternating between napping and getting himself off repeatedly until the itch beneath his skin and the too-hot haze lifted enough for him to get some work done on his computer. He’d get off a few more times before dinner and then nest some more. Rinse and repeat for the typical five or six days, and he could shower away the scent of slick and arousal, change the sheets, wash his clothes in scent blocking detergent, and get back to life as usual. It was a perfect system, a routine he had down pat, and he had no reason or thought to change it.

He’d heard other omegas talk, of course, wishing they had an alpha to be with them through their heats, or talking about how much easier it was to have one present to fuck them through it. The latter group he usually overheard chatting in coffee shops and at parks, as they bounced their toddlers on their hips or cradled their babies while making plans for playdates. Evan had always secretly wondered if they meant it, or if they only said it to justify their decision to let an alpha fuck pups into them. He himself had never wished for an alpha to join him, had never thought about baring his throat to be claimed in the throes of orgasm, had never wanted to submit himself to even the possibility of being bred. 

At least, not until Cole.

Or, more specifically, not until he got Cole back. 

Cole Locklear had been Evan’s next door neighbor as a child. Less than six months in age apart, they’d been inseparable since preschool, known for causing trouble and causing it together. _Never saw one without the other,_ had chided parents and teachers and neighbors alike. They’d roughhoused and climbed things not meant to be climbed and had countless imaginary battles in the woods behind their houses. Barely a week went by without a sleepover complete with blanket forts and scary stories. They’d been best friends. 

And then, when Evan was twelve, his and Eli’s parents had died in a car accident. With no immediate family, they’d been shunted into the foster system and whisked to a dozen different towns before Eli aged out after two years and took custody of Evan himself. He had gone to reunite with the Locklears once things had settled, only to find the once warm and inviting home of his best friend empty. People in the neighborhood said they had moved shortly after the funeral.

He’d thought for sure he would never see him again. 

So, when the overwhelmingly familiar cinnamon-vanilla scent of _Cole_ hit him, almost fifteen years later, in the middle of the grocery store, he’d barely believed it at first.

Apparently neither had Cole, as they stared at each other for a solid twenty seconds without either of them saying a word, looks of utter shock reflected in each other’s face. 

“Evan?” He looked different than he had when they were twelve, taller, broader, _larger_ all around. He was built like an alpha, a fact his scent confirmed, which to Evan made perfect sense. As a child, he’d always envied Cole’s easy fearlessness and protective nature. Still, despite the differences, the big things were the same. Messy dirty blond hair, bright blue eyes, the kind of smile that could light the whole room, it was still _him._

“Cole.” Half whispered though it might have been, it wasn’t a question.

That was all it took, the alpha closing the space between them with little warning and wrapping his arms around Evan tightly. He clung back, burying his face in the crook of Cole’s neck and scenting him properly, the elation radiating from them both so strong he could almost taste it, mingled with the strong scent of an alpha. It was easy, though, to pretend that the urge to bask in it and drink it in was only from the joy of reunion.

Anxiety flashed cold and sudden through him at the thought of Cole finding out about his designation. What would he think of the boy he’d spent his days roughhousing with if he knew he was an _omega_? He was saved having to say anything by a tightening grip and another rush of the alpha’s scent leaving him giddy. The tightness in his chest finally loosened a few moments later when Cole made no move to scent him further, the way an alpha typically would an omega. The scent blockers were doing their jobs.

Thank god. 

They’d spent the next several hours at a diner down the road — having left their shopping carts right there in the middle of the deli, much to the annoyance of the employees — catching up. 

It made him feel better, at least slightly, to find out that Cole was unmated too, much to the upset of his mother, apparently, who thought she’d have a few grandchildren by now. He was content though, he said. He’d never been able to make a relationship work, and his jobs, as both a middle school gym teacher and a little league soccer coach, scratched the itch of his alphan paternal urges most of the time. 

Evan dodged explicitly stating his own designation, the thought of _lying_ to Cole refused to sit right in his chest, but he managed to justify letting him come to his own conclusions and not correcting them when they were wrong. Otherwise, he told him the truth. He was a lawyer, had never given himself the free time to even consider a mate or kids (that had made Cole chuckle, all soft and warm in that way that made something in Evan melt, had mumbled a “You always were the most focused person I’d ever met,” around his drink).

That had been almost six months ago. In the time since then, they’d returned to being almost as inseparable as they’d been when they were young. Grabbing meals together, exploring the city, video games and movie nights being hosted at each others’ places. There’d only been one real difference. That urge Evan’d had, to bask in Cole’s alpha-scent, had not only worsened, it’d been joined by others. 

As it turned out, being unmated hadn’t stopped Cole from _mating._ He’d become an absolutely shameless flirt, with just as much bite as he had bark – and Evan had quickly found himself aching for his attention whenever a new omega or beta (even sometimes another alpha, Cole wasn’t picky) caught his eye. He made a pointed effort to avoid his past conquests, and would get uncomfortable and moody whenever Cole would begin to give him the ‘highlights’ of the hookup, trying quickly to change the subject, only for his demeanor to dramatically improve when Cole would sling an arm over his shoulder to tease him for being a prude.

Once, they’d had plans for lunch after one of Cole’s soccer team’s games, so Evan had agreed to meet him there. When he’d showed up, however, the sight of Cole with a small child clinging to his shoulders and another in his arms had stirred something warm and unmistakable in the pit of his stomach that refused to ease for days. The image was burned into his eyelids, and the stubborn notion that the alpha would be a wonderful father lingered even longer.

His refusal to act, to say anything, was more than just childlike denial of a growing crush, Evan had insisted, on multiple occasions, to Eli. He’d spent _so much_ of his life refusing to be controlled by his baser omega urges. That wasn’t going to change now, just because of one pretty face. (Even if that pretty face was attached to the smell of safety and security and affection so deep Evan thought it might be branded in his bones.) Besides, it wasn’t worth losing Cole over, not when he’d _just_ gotten him back. 

Things didn’t begin to change until his first heat after their reunion. 

Everything started out fine enough. Normal, anyway. 

At Eli’s nagging he’d informed his boss two weeks ahead of time that he’d need a week off, that he’d continue working his files at home as best he could, as always. He stocked up on groceries, having learned the hard way that being starved or dehydrated during a heat was about as miserable as things could get, and changed his bedding to the softer, more easily cleaned fabrics he had for this exact purpose. 

Luckily, and to his mild surprise, he hadn’t had to deal with Troy this time. 

Troy was Evan’s only neighbor on his floor. Friendly at first, Evan had learned quickly that Troy was the exact kind of alpha that had led him to going to such lengths to conceal his designation. He’d chat at length with anyone who would listen about what he believed to be the proper place of omegas: at the feet of their alphas, nursing their pups and swollen with more. 

Though he had never explicitly said so, Evan was sure he knew about his status, had known since they’d been ridden the elevator together once a few years before. It had been raining, and Evan hadn’t realized until the doors had closed that his scent blockers had been mostly washed away. Ever since, he’d showed up at Evan’s door at the beginning of his heats, always with some excuse, but the timing and pattern of it couldn’t be ignored. It was creepy.

Thankfully, though, another byproduct of Cole having been around as much as he had, was that Troy didn’t come by as much, he seemed less intent on cornering Evan at the mailboxes or in the elevator. It figured that he’d honor what he believed to be another alpha’s claim more than simple decency, but now, with a steady ache growing in his lower stomach and a pleasant hum beginning under his skin, Evan was only grateful for his newfound deference.

He called Cole, too, claimed he had come down with something and probably wouldn’t be around for a few days, brushing off the alpha’s offer of soup or caretaking with the excuse that he didn’t want him to pass anything on to his students, and that Eli was worrying over him enough as it was.

All in all, it seemed to be going perfectly to plan.

Laying in his bed, several hours later, he began to get the first inkling that something was off. 

The first time he got off was unsatisfying, but that wasn’t surprising, it usually was. He came almost as soon as his hand wrapped around his cock, cum dribbling lazily over his fingers. It cut through the growing haze only slightly, just enough to make the growing need more evident, leaving him leaking slick and clenching around nothing, gasps filling the air of his bedroom, heavy with heat and Evan’s own unblocked scent: petrichor and ozone.

Then, the real frustration began. Still hard, he began to stroke himself again, lounged back against his pillows, the air cool against the already present sweat sheen of his skin. Gathering his own slick as lube, he moved his hand faster, the fuzz around the corners of his mind beginning to grow and envelop him in a warm cloud of lust and pleasure— until he hit a wall. 

Increasingly frustrated whimpers tore their way out of him as he worked his hand more, rocked up into his own touch, trying with increasing desperation to push himself over the edge, only to fall just short. He wasn’t sure how much time passed like that, before he slumped backwards with a half desperate cry. It was a testament to his need that his eyes flicked suddenly to the end table drawer where he kept his toys. He didn’t usually like to break them out this early, he’d only end up hornier but too overstimulated to do anything about it without it hurting later if he did, but as his cock gave another insistent twitch, he gave in, reaching for the knob. 

Over an hour later, and being overstimulated was far from Evan’s worries. He’d only managed to get off one more time, almost less satisfying than the first, before he’d found himself right back at that damned wall. He fucked himself in earnest, in multiple positions, until his whole body was sore and shaking from exertion, but no matter how close he got, no matter how many times or how firmly he rocked the tip of the silicone knot against his prostate it never pushed him over. 

Which was how he ended up pacing his apartment with shaky legs, his aching cock bobbing slightly with each step and slick dripping uncomfortably down his thighs, the sharp scent of uncertainty mingling with arousal and mounting desperation. Tears of frustration prickled at the corner of his eyes and his breath was halting as he tried to figure out what to do. All he _wanted_ to do was cum until the burning insistence that he _kept_ cumming went away and he could curl up in the pile of blankets he’d meticulously arranged and rearranged on his bed, but he could find no relief.

He was about to go back to his room, try again — maybe if he could just fuck himself hard enough, or if he tried a different toy… — when he saw it. Cole’s jacket, laying draped over the arm of the couch, left there since he’d been over a couple nights before. 

Evan wasn’t sure what possessed him to move, he was already halfway across the room before he realized he’d even done so, stopping dead before the couch, the _sweetsafesalpha_ scent of the fabric drawing him in like a moth to a flame. Finally, with shaking hands, he picked it up, drawing it up and—

As the jacket began to near his face, a keening whine tore itself out of him without his permission, and when he finally pressed his nose to it, his knees gave out, and he buckled against the arm of the sofa. He hardly noticed, inhaling the scent in great gasps. Without warning, his hips rocked, and the slight brush against the couch cushion was all it took. He came with a _cry,_ vision whiting out for a moment as he rutted pitifully against the barest contact.

He didn’t remember making the decision to take the jacket back with him to his room, he didn’t remember getting back to his room at all, if he was honest. In fact, the only thing he really knew about the vast majority of that week was that he lost count of the times he’d cum, face buried in Cole’s jacket and crying out his name, imagining his touch. 

It took longer than it typically did for him to pull himself from the depths of his heat, to return to the world of people who wanted more than just to be knotted, but when he did, Evan took to what he did best: research. The intensity of his last heat left him uncertain, seeking answers, and there were plenty he could choose from, according to the internet. There were claims of emotional mates before official bonding, the long term effects of strong suppressants, instances of unintentional imprint bonding in childhood affecting heats later, but the one Evan preferred was the one most to the point: changes in the nesting environment. He’d never spent this much casual time with an alpha. Sure, there were the people he worked with, but they were never in his home, leaving their scent in the places he spent his heats. Add that to Cole’s jacket being there, a scentmarked item belonging to an eligible alpha in his prime, and of course Evan’s body had been resistant to a placeholder. It took the scent as an indication that the real thing was there, and that’s what it had wanted. 

It was simple biology, really.

He washed his sheets, cleaned the apartment thoroughly with blocking soaps and air fresheners, wiped away the mess he’d made on the couch, and got back to life as usual. Everything was fine. 

His second heat after meeting Cole again was the one that actually complicated things. It wasn’t even _his_ fault, most infuriatingly, it was Cole’s. 

It had only been a few months since his last heat, so he hadn’t scheduled another one yet, hadn’t gone off his suppressants or taken the time off work. The heat shouldn’t have happened _at all,_ but when Cole showed up at his door to say he wouldn’t be around for a few days, _after he’d already started to go into rut,_ it hadn’t mattered. He’d barely gotten the door closed before slick was dripping between Evan’s legs, his mind already hazing with the urge to open it again, beg Cole to stay, to spend his rut with him, to fuck him full and hard and knot him the way an alpha was _supposed_ to and—

He managed to text Eli, panic at this spectacular loss of control rising and threatening to suffocate him before he fled to his bedroom, tearing through his closet for Cole’s jacket, kept hidden at the back. His brother found him a half hour later, curled up in a hastily made nest on his bed, leaking through the clothes he never bothered to take off, shaking and feverish and clinging to the alpha’s jacket for dear life. 

Eli’s beta scent - pine needles and fresh turned earth - wasn’t inherently threatening, but it also wasn’t of any comfort to Evan, so far out of his mind he could only writhe pathetically and whimper for an alpha that wasn’t his. He barely noticed when his brother turned on his heel and left.

How could he, when he was too busy being assaulted by his own senses. The pleasant thrum that usually filled him during heats had been amped up to a degree he’d never felt before, like there were angry bees buzzing furiously just beneath his skin. Skin that was both too hot and freezing cold all at once, skin that ached painfully at the press of his clothes but was terrifyingly exposed to the point of panic if he dared tried to remove them. He couldn’t notice anything but his own misery and the slight balm that only came from the jacket clutched in his hands, not his brother leaving, not his brother returning, nor the sound of footsteps in the hall. 

What he _did_ notice, however, was the much stronger scent of vanilla and cinnamon wafting from the open door. Evan’s head snapped up, hips rocking instinctively in hopes that the alpha was _there_ and would take care of him and—

Eli emptied a garbage bag over Evan’s head, and suddenly Cole’s scent was _everywhere,_ warm and aroused and very much in rut and _there._ Every muscle in Evan’s bowstring tense body relaxed, his pulse slowing and the bees beneath his skin going still and content at once as pillows and blankets and shirts were all dumped over his frame. 

Dimly, he was aware of his brother tugging his own sheets and blankets away and leaving again, but Evan couldn’t find it in him to care or try to stop him as he all but huffed Cole’s scent like it was going to disappear if he didn’t. All that mattered was he could finally breathe. 

Later, he found out what Eli had done and, impressive as it was, marching into the home of an alpha in rut and daring to give orders and take his belongings, it made the task of ever looking Cole in the eye again seem even more herculean than it already was. The only thing that helped was that, while the alpha hadn’t been in _quite_ as pathetic a state, according to Eli he’d been restless and agitated and unsatisfied himself until the beta had returned with a bag full of Evan’s things. 

Eventually, once they’d both come out of their respective mating cycles, they agreed to meet up and swap back belongings, which went better than Evan had expected, if nothing else. Cole didn’t seem angry with him, at least. 

“I ran them through the laundry twice.” Evan offered, holding out the bag. 

“Yeah, I had my sister bring me some of that laundry detergent with scent blockers in it, just in case?” Cole took the bag, tossing it in the back of his car before glancing at Evan apologetically. “If I’d known you were an omega, Evan, I’d have just called, I didn’t mean to… y’know...”

“To send me into heat?” Evan finished, tone perhaps sharper than it needed to be, but it only lasted a second before he shrugged, voice quieting. “S’fine, I don’t exactly advertise it.” To that, Cole looked confused. 

“Why not? I mean I get not _advertising,_ but it’s not something to be ashamed of-”

“I’m not _ashamed!”_ The sharpness was back, forceful enough that it seemed like it took the alpha by surprise. “I worked hard to get where I’m at, I have no interest in being looked at like I can’t handle anything an alpha can.” He shot a pointed look at the way Cole had stepped forward, hand outstretched to be comforting. “Or that I need to be _coddled_ all the damn time.” 

“It’s not about _coddling_ you, Ev, it’s about…” Cole sighed, dragging a hand through his hair. “Not accidentally taking advantage of you because I wasn’t being careful-”

“I don’t want you to be _careful_ with me, Cole!” Evan snapped, drawing himself up to nearly Cole’s height in indignation. “I liked how things were, it was like when we were kids and nothing was weird or loaded because you weren’t being _careful_ with me, you were _being_ my best friend and it didn’t _matter_ that you were an alpha.” He scrubbed a hand over his face, aggravated. “And now, every time you look at me it’s going to be like _that,_ like you’re deciding how _careful_ you have to be with the fragile little omega. _That’s_ why I didn’t tell you, Cole. I didn’t want that.”

For a moment, Cole seemed stunned, frozen in place, staring at Evan so intently it almost made him uncomfortable, before suddenly he nodded.

“Okay.”

“What?” 

“Okay. I’ll do my best to not treat you any different.” He must’ve seen the distrust on Evan’s face because he pressed on. “I promise. But you have to promise me something back.”

“And what’s that?” The surprise in his tone undercut the sharpness he’d been trying to hold onto. 

“If I ever do push too much, or am being too much-” He raised a finger as Evan opened his mouth to protest, “ _If_ it ever happens, you have to tell me. Promise me that, and I’ll do my best to not treat you with kid gloves.” 

Evan thought about it for a moment, before he finally nodded, allowing a little bit of hope to curl in his chest that things might be okay. “Deal.” He stuck out his hand to shake, and was delighted when instead Cole dragged him into a brief hug before throwing an arm over his shoulders. 

“Let me buy you lunch, yeah?” He must’ve seen the protest before Evan even thought it, because he rushed on, “I’ll bet you didn’t get a change to stock up on food _before,_ and I know how bare that kitchen of yours is, and seeing how this whole thing’s my fault anyway, it’s the least I can do.” 

Evan only hesitated a second before agreeing. That had been his next stop anyway. 

The lunch was more of a reassurance that things were actually okay than Evan had expected. They talked, the laughed, they joked, they gave each other the same hell they always had. It did more for making Evan feel human again than going back to work did, and if he found himself secretly enjoying the fact that Cole spent significantly less time flirting with the waitress than he usually did, that was his own business. 

He’d almost forgotten, in fact, by the time the alpha dropped him off at home. The sudden uncertainty on Cole’s face as he turned to leave, however, snapped him back to the circumstance. 

“Hey, Evan?” He finally got out, sounding about as nervous as Evan had ever heard him. He swallowed hard before responding, braced for the worst.

“Yeah?”

“You know if you uh… don’t want to deal with it… y’know, _alone._ I could always help? No reason for us both to be uncomfortable because we don’t have mates, right?” The words seem to come out in a rush, and they took Evan aback for a moment before he finally managed to reply.

“I’ll think about it.” For a split second, he thought he saw something dejected in Cole’s eyes, but it was only for a split second before the alpha nodded. 

“Just let me know.” 

“I will.”

Of course, he said that, but Evan had always been stubborn for an omega.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get.... heated (no that wasn't funny but yes I'm leaving it)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for a very brief attempted assault.

Evan had always been stubborn. To the point of absolute stupidity sometimes, Eli loved to point out at almost any given opportunity. That said, at no point had stubbornness and stupidity intersected  _ quite  _ like the time he’d tried to ignore a heat. 

The poor judgement had been fueled more by frustration than anything else. Evan had gone through two incredibly intense heats in almost as many months, more than he had since he’d been a hormonal teenager. The second heat hadn’t even been planned, accidentally triggered by being around Cole at the beginning of his rut, and had been the most intense, miserable heat of his life. 

So, when he woke up with a dull ache in his pelvis, only a month later, instead of it being enough to cause alarm, to have him preparing to take a week off, or at  _ least  _ scheduling a doctor’s appointment to figure out why his suppressants were failing for the second time, it was met only with annoyance, frustration, and determination to make it through the day as normal. He could decide what he was going to do after work.

To his credit and pride, he made it through most of the workday unaffected, or at least mostly. He doubled up on scent blockers, plugged himself up so he couldn’t leak everywhere, and wore the tightest briefs he had, just in case. For the most part, it worked. Aside from the few moments he’d caught himself rocking in his chair against the plug, or the one time a coworker had to repeat a question because his mind had started to haze, his day had gone on mostly as normal. It wasn’t until the end that things started to come unraveled. 

His last thirty minutes in the office he’d spent uncomfortably hard. He couldn’t focus, having to devote too much of his attention to swallowing down sounds and resisting the urge to clench down on the plug every time he moved and the pressure on his cock changed slightly. While he was confident his own scent blockers were working as they should, none of his coworkers had any use for them, leaving him utterly surrounded with alpha scent, which he was learning made things far worse. 

By the time he headed for his car, he was starting to sweat and shiver, desperation beginning to set it. 

As the heat-fog began to fill his mind, he debated briefly whether or not he could manage the drive home safely, and glanced nervously toward the nearby subway entrance— only for the decision to be made for him by the sensation of slick beginning to seep into his underwear. There would be no safety in trying to use public transit. No amount of blockers would mask the scent of slick, which made his best case scenario a humiliating public escort home, plus having to explain why he’d left his car in the lot all night. He didn’t want to think about the worst case. He’d have to drive. 

All things considered, he managed well enough, sheer determination to make it getting him most of the way home. Everything was fine. At least, until he hit a pothole and the plug jolted  _ hard  _ against his prostate. He shouted, vision blurring as his whole body jerked as much as it could within the constraints of his seat belt, grip on the steering wheel tightening until his knuckles went white.

Gasping, he pulled over, trying his best to recover before attempting to make the last block home. He was trembling all over, feverish  _ need  _ sinking into his skin, and he could feel slick beginning to escape more freely around the toy as his cock drooled precum, soaking the front of his slacks. With shaking hands, he reached for his phone, suddenly remembering Cole’s offer. He only debated it for a second, before his hole clenched again, desperate for something far larger than the plug, for a knot, for  _ Cole’s  _ knot–

> **[ TXT: Cole ] Went into heat again. On my way home. Need help.**

Later, he’d find it in himself to be horrified by the desperation in the message, but in the moment he sent it he could only find himself satisfied that it hadn’t read ‘Need you’ instead. 

Without waiting for a response, he made the rest of the drive home at a snail’s pace, several miles below the speed limit, but he made it, parking as close to his apartment building as he could. There, he took a moment to steady himself before making the walk inside. Said walk was agonizing, his knees threatening to give out with every step as the toy inside him shifted.

He’d almost made it, was halfway down the hall to his door, when the elevator at the other end opened and the firewood-smoke scent of its passenger made him freeze in his tracks, unsure if his blood was to run hot with need or cold with fear. 

Troy. The exact kind of alpha Evan would do anything to avoid. The alpha Evan was sure had been waiting for this exact opportunity for years. 

They locked eyes, and he knew the exact second his heat-scent hit Troy. He paused mid stride, nostrils flaring and eyes darkening, mouth twisting into an all-too-pleased smirk, before his pace suddenly doubled. 

Evan tried to get to his door first, though it was halfway between him and the alpha, and he did his best to ignore the purely instinctive part of him that couldn’t help but thrill at the closing space between them. If he could just get inside and lock the door he’d be  _ fine– _

Right as his fingers curled around the knob and he started to turn it, a hand seized his wrist and he was yanked backwards, suddenly overwhelmed by the scent of  _ alpha  _ as he was thrown against the opposite wall. Troy was large, even for an alpha, and he grabbed Evan’s chin, tilting his face up to make him look at him as he pinned the omega bodily.

“Well, well, well… looks like Mr. Independent got caught out without a chaperone.” His breath reeked of cigarettes and Evan hated how much his body responded to it anyway, shivering against his will at the timbre of power in his voice, helplessly rocking against the knee shoved between his legs, even as disgust rippled under his skin. “Seems like you’re all out of sorts, could use some help.” 

Still using one hand to hold Evan’s jaw, not letting him look away, Troy’s other hand slid down his side, down his back, not seeming to care that the trembling was as much from terror as it was arousal. “You know, your heats would be so much more enjoyable if you’d let an alpha take care of you. I hear those pretty little sounds you make when you’re on your own sometimes, can’t help but imagine the ones you’d make on my knot...” His hand slipped lower, down over Evan’s ass, feeling the slick-soaked fabric and starting to push against the toy, grinning at the whimpers he couldn’t quite bite back—

Without warning, Troy was gone, knocked several feet away. The abrupt loss of contact tore a yelp from Evan as he buckled, sliding down the wall and curling in on himself as the force holding him there vanished.

He finally managed to look up when the smell of cinnamon tinged vanilla washed over him, but his pulse was roaring too loud in his ears to process whatever Cole was snarling at Troy as the other alpha skittered back, fleeing down the hall and into his own apartment. It might’ve been seconds, it might’ve been eons, Evan wasn’t sure, before Cole turned to him, towering over the crumpled omega even more than he usually did. 

Evan whimpered softly in surprise when he was scooped into his arms without warning, and clung pitifully, face buried in Cole’s chest, as he was carried into his apartment. 

He hadn’t expected to get immediately pinned against the door as it closed, hadn’t expected Cole to grab the underside of each of his knees and pull his legs around his waist, hadn’t expected the alpha to be rock hard beneath his jeans, or to rock against him forcefully, making him cry out as the plug was pressed further into him and his cock was given friction. But when he pulled back to look at Cole, he suddenly understood.

The alpha’s blue eyes were sharp, pupils blown wide, there were bags underneath them. It didn’t look like he’d slept well in several days. His dirty blond hair was messy, uncombed, like he’d clawed his hands through it hundreds of times, and scattered wisps of it stuck to his forehead, plastered to his burning skin by sweat.

Cole was in rut.

He was in rut  _ and  _ he had a needy omega in the throes of heat in his arms. 

That was Evan’s last coherent thought for a while.

Cole’s mouth pressed to his in a bruising kiss, his hands scrabbling to get Evan’s shirt off, eventually just tearing the fabric, popping buttons in impatience. Never breaking the kiss, he mapped every inch of the omega’s chest and stomach with his hands as he rocked against him, electricity following in the wake of his touch. 

“Please, please,  _ please…”  _ Evan whimpered into the kiss, unsure if Cole could even hear him, trying hard to grind back against him, pressing him  _ so close  _ to where he needed him most. 

“ _ Fuck,  _ Evan!” Cole snarled, jerking hard against the omega again, making Evan’s head fall back against the wall with a cry. The alpha took the opportunity to lower his mouth to his neck, sucking a dark mark at the hollow of his throat. He lingered there a moment as Evan continued to beg, doing his best to satiate the growing desperation to be fucked. He needed it like he needed oxygen, needed Cole to be in him, to knot him, to fill him–

Evan gasped in surprise when he was suddenly lifted off the wall, pulled flush against Cole as he was carried away, through the living room and down the hall with steps he was certain he couldn’t have made himself. He thought if he was put down his legs would give out beneath him. He was saved the thought of even trying, when Cole threw him onto the bed. 

Instantly the alpha was over him, tearing away his pants and underwear in extremely practiced movements, tossing the arousal soaked garments across the room before pausing to just look at Evan, who squirmed desperately under his gaze, cock so hard it was pinned flat to his stomach, twitching and leaking, and plug visibly moving with the force of his hole clenching around it.

Slowly, he pulled the toy out, ignoring Evan’s plaintive cry as he was left empty, a small buildup of slick gushing out after the toy, puddling below his ass. 

“Fuck you’re so wet, Ev.” Cole growled, stripping his own clothes with about as much force as he’d done Evan’s. “So wet and ready for me.” 

“Cole,  _ please.”  _

The alpha’s only response was a frantic nod as he moved over Evan, lining himself up with his sopping hole and sliding home in one long, smooth thrust. 

The noise that came out of Evan was somewhere between a moan and a scream. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before. Cole was massive, bigger than even his largest toy, wider and longer and he filled him up so thoroughly that even his best fantasies paled in comparison. The stretch was  _ perfect,  _ the feeling of  _ rightness  _ was immediate, his every nerve ending alight with pleasure as his body accommodated, did what it was made to do, and took him all. 

He was given no time to revel in it, though, as the alpha immediately set a punishing pace, fucking into him as if his life depended on it. Evan’s cries continued, punctuated by shouts and broken whimpers of Cole’s name.

All it took was a few well aimed thrusts hitting his prostate and Evan was seeing white, his whole body spasming and asshole clenching down as he came, arching and crying out so brokenly it almost sounded like sobs, earning him an almost shout from Cole, whose knot began to swell, his thrusts getting shorter, faster, and harder as he stopped being able to get the swollen base out of Evan without effort.

If he hadn’t already been shuddering through the strongest orgasm of his life, the feeling of the alpha’s seed beginning to pump into him, his knot locking them together and holding all that seed in, would’ve sent him over the edge itself. 

The next morning, Evan woke slowly, sunlight creeping through the curtain and warming his face. He was on his side, naked and exposed but feeling warmer and more comfortable than he had in  _ years.  _ He was sore all over, but in a good way, like the aftermath of a good workout, with satisfaction thrumming beneath his skin.

Cole seemed to be just as sleepy and content, if the slow rhythm of his breathing was anything to go by. The alpha was plastered to Evan’s back, arms wrapped tight around his middle and his face pressed firmly against the back of his shoulder, their legs tangled messily. 

Evan sighed happily. His heat was still active, there was no denying the arousal that was already beginning to coil again, but for the moment it was weak enough for him to push it away, electing to bask in the warmth and contentment, breathing in the smell of his and Cole’s mingled scents, a moment longer.

He must’ve dozed back off, because he woke to the alpha pressing kisses to the back of his neck, half hard and rocking against his thigh. Evan gasped as his cock hardened in seconds and his hips bucked back, eagerness for more already mounting. 

Cole filled him slowly that time, so unlike the night before, drawing a long whine from Evan as he gradually took him to the base.

“So good for me, Ev.” He all but purred against the omega’s neck as he began to fuck him, slowly but thoroughly. “So perfect.” 

It didn’t take long for Evan to come apart again, or for Cole’s knot to swell and lock them in place, pumping him full of cum. What did take an eternity though was the alpha stroking him through a dozen more orgasms, until he was cumming dry, shaking, crying,  _ sobbing _ , and milking Cole’s cock so thoroughly he stayed knotted for  _ hours.  _

Eventually, he fell asleep again, trembling and drained, and drifted off to the feeling of fullness, and of Cole’s hands cupping and stroking the slight visible bulge in his lower stomach.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Upped it to six chapters because the little bits that were supposed to be described in one or two lines keep becoming full scenes. I promise I won't add any more chapters, even if the chapters get longer. 
> 
> The Pining™ Intensifies

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.  _ Fuck.  _

Dimly, almost bitterly, Evan remembered whimpering that exact string of profanity as Cole had fucked him a month ago.

It had ended up being the best heat of his life. After the first twenty four hours a lot of the haze had died down, they’d been mostly themselves, if a bit hornier than usual. It had been nice to feel more like himself and less like a sex crazed animal, to not be alone, to curl up in a nest of blankets with his face buried in Cole’s neck, bathing himself in the comforting scent of an alpha’s protection. They watched movies between rounds, they talked, they laughed, he stayed half curled on Cole’s lap as he did his work and submitted it. Most of the time, it was almost no different than when they’d normally hang out.

When arousal flared, they were even levelheaded enough to use condoms. Evan had been proud of that. Even if neither of them had been lucid enough to have thought of it the first night, that didn’t mean they had to throw caution to the wind. Out of the dozens of times they’d fucked, surely the few times they hadn’t used protection wouldn’t have been enough for anything to take, right? 

The five positive pregnancy tests in front of him now begged to differ. 

A few weeks after his heat and he’d started getting sick, waking up every morning and barely making it to the bathroom before he’d lose whatever was left in his stomach from the night before. It had been easy to brush it under the rug next to how  _ tired  _ he was lately, blaming both symptoms on a stomach flu, after all, hadn’t Cole just recently mentioned there was something going around? 

The final straw had been at work, when the smell of one of his coworkers lunch from all the way down the hall had sent him doubling over the trash can in desperation. He’d been telling Eli about it when they met up when his brother had raised the question. Evan had snapped at the time, sworn there was  _ no way,  _ even as he did the math in his head and realized that it all checked out. 

A handful of tests later, and he had his answer. Unless he was some sort of statistical unicorn to have managed this many false positives, he was pregnant.

Knocked up.

With Cole’s baby. 

_ Fuck.  _

* * *

The omega paced his living room, the sharp scent of distress rolling off of him in waves as he waited for Cole to show up. He clawed a hand through his hair, scrubbed the other one over his face, tried to take a deep breath and relax– only to jump out of his skin at the knock on the front door. 

“It’s open!” He called, rooted to the spot, stomach churning from what was decidedly not morning sickness this time as the door swung open.

“Hey, is–” Cole paused, scented the air, brow furrowing. “Evan? What’s wrong?” He started toward the shorter man, voice softening in concern “You said you needed to talk, what’s going on?” Whether it was intentional or not, his scent gland was doing its own work, filling the room with the smell of comfort and  _ safety,  _ and it was working so well it almost made Evan relax. That was, until he realized  _ why  _ it was working so much better than it usually did, and–

“I’m pregnant.” The words came tumbling out, faster and with less grace than Evan had meant for them to, but they were out, there was no taking them back, so he plowed ahead, eager to just get it over with. “It’s yours, obviously.” 

The alpha stiffened. Blinked. Let his eyes drop down to the omega’s stomach like he already expected to see a growing pup there. Quickly, so as not to be faced with the rejection Evan  _ knew  _ was coming, he continued, voice clipped, professional. He’d practiced this speech a hundred times in his bathroom mirror before he’d even called Cole over. 

“It’s fine, you don’t have to  _ do  _ anything. I’ve got it handled.” 

“You do?” Cole’s voice was strained, his eyes wide as his gaze finally returned to Evan’s face. He could only assume it was from shock. 

“Yeah. I’m gonna work from home, I’ll have it, put it up for adoption. No one has to know.” To him, it was a perfect plan. No one would find out about his status as an omega, a couple that wanted a baby would get one, and he wouldn’t be left alone to raise the pup of the alpha he’d spent the last year secretly pining for. In the end, he and Cole would still be friends and nothing would ever change. It was a win all around. 

“And you’re… okay with that?” He sounded doubtful, and Evan bristled in indignation. He wasn’t so hormone addled he couldn’t make his own decisions, couldn’t plan for the future effectively, and he resented the implication that he was. When he spoke next he kept his voice cool and steady, purposefully void of his natural omega softness as he stated the facts.

“‘Course I am. It was a mistake, we’re not mated, you don’t have any obligation. I can handle it myself. I just thought you should know before it started to be more obvious.” Cole’s face was blank, unreadable. Evan hated it.

“If that’s what you want, then.” 

“It is.”   


“Okay.”

His first ultrasound went without incident, aside from mild annoyance at the sympathetic looks the staff kept giving him the second he’d told them he was unmated. He rolled his eyes at the patronizing ‘poor dear’ from the middle aged omega at the front desk, recoiled from the touch of the beta nurse who seemed to be trying her best to be comforting but whose closeness only left him more on edge, and tried his very hardest to not wish Cole were there as the tech spread the gel on his exposed stomach. 

The tech was professional at least, an alpha, but clearly mated and very good at being unintimidating. He confirmed the facts for Evan easily. He was about eight weeks along with a single pup, typical for most omega’s first pregnancies, the pup seemed healthy. He offered to let Evan hear its heartbeat, but didn’t press when he said no, only nodded and informed him that the heart rate was on the slower side but within normal range.

It wasn’t until he’d gotten home and was looking through the small stack of resource pamphlets that he’d taken that he realized they’d slipped a printout from the sonogram in with his paperwork. He only looked at it a second before setting it back on the coffee table with the rest. 

Which was where Cole found it a few days later when he was over. 

They’d been about to settle down and watch a movie, some sci-fi flick one of Cole’s coworkers had recommended, when Evan had had to run to the bathroom suddenly. When he came back, the alpha was leaning forward, peering closely at the printout in his hands. He looked at Evan when the omega sat down next to him. 

“Is this… it?” He asked, voice halting in a way that had Evan’s brow furrowing. 

“Uh, yeah, had the scan the other day.” 

“You didn’t tell me.” Cole’s voice was quiet, and there was a tinge of  _ hurt  _ in his tone that caught Evan by surprise, leaving him reeling and uncertain. 

“I… didn’t know I… should I have?”

“I mean not if you don’t  _ want  _ to,” Cole was backtracking, looking at Evan nervously though he made no move to put the photo down. “Just thought, I dunno. I got you into this mess, the least I can do is not make you do it alone, right?” 

“I told you, you don’t have to do that,” He started, trailing off in confusion at the way the alpha suddenly looked away. For a split second he allowed himself to imagine it, Cole at his side as he was checked, covering up the sterile scent of the office with his own. He bit his lip. “But if you want, I’ll tell you when the next one is.” 

“Okay.” The alpha nodded, seemingly satisfied, before looking back at the image in his hands and tilting his head with a sort of confusion that sent warm affection rushing through Evan unexpectedly. “So how are you supposed to read this thing?”

Evan frowned, tilting his own head as he looked over Cole’s shoulder, trying to get a good look at the thing. He pointed, doing his best to remember what the tech told him. “That’s the head.” He paused, tilting his head the other way. “Or it might be the butt?” 

Cole laughed then, and Evan shoved him. 

“It’s hard to tell, alright! It just looks like a bunch of gray blobs to me!”

“Maybe it’s like one of those tests, where what shapes you see says if you’re crazy or not.” He pointed randomly. “I see a bunny, what do you think that means?”   


There was no helping the way Evan dissolved into laughter. “Means you’re a dumbass.” He finally choked out between laughs, fishing through his pocket for his phone. “There’s gotta be a guide online somewhere for deciphering this thing.” 

The movie was left muted and on its title page for the rest of the evening.

Still, things didn’t start to feel  _ real  _ for Evan until a couple weeks later. 

Eli and Cole had both been over for dinner and a few rounds of some new video game Eli had been itching to play for days. A few rounds had turned to more, had turned into Eli dashing comically toward the door after realizing he’d stayed several hours longer than he had meant to and that he’d meant to stop by his girlfriend’s. 

Evan laughed, watching his brother bound out like his life depending on it, switching off his controller and rolling his eyes. Finally, after far too long sitting still, he stretched, shirt riding up and arms crossing over his head as he did so, arching his back off of the couch and groaning softly as he felt the stiffness in his back and shoulders give way. Satisfied, he relaxed again, dropping back onto the sofa with a soft  _ thump.  _ When he looked back up, Cole was staring at him, wide eyed. 

“What?” 

The alpha’s gaze dropped quickly, shifting away. He cleared his throat. “You just...uh. You’re showing, Ev.”

Evan glanced down. He didn’t see it at first, his stomach appearing as flat as it always had, until he lifted his shirt and sucked in his breath, flexing his muscles the way he had when he’d stretched, and  _ oh.  _

He was. It wasn’t much, he probably wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t been looking for it, but there was a bump. Cautiously he laid a hand over it, letting the firmness give him an idea of its size. He didn’t even have to cup his palm to hold it, and the realization of how  _ small  _ the pup inside him was had him drawing in a shaky breath, unexpected tears filling his eyes.

“Evan?” Cole sounded concerned, the sharp smell of alarm mingling in with his scent as he moved over. “Are you okay? Is something wrong?” 

Evan’s hand snapped away from his stomach as if it had suddenly burned him, forced his muscles to relax and obscure his baby bump –  _ his baby bump –  _ once more. “Yeah,” he ground out, gritting his teeth and blinking back the tears. “Just the damn pregnancy hormones. It’s nothing.” 

The alpha looked like he wanted to disagree but didn’t open his mouth. Evan looked away, immediately changing the subject.

After Cole had left, he couldn’t stop touching it, sucking in his stomach and trailing his fingers over the little bump that remained. The bump that housed a  _ baby. Evan’s  _ baby.  _ Cole’s baby. _ __

In hindsight, he should’ve recognized that as the beginning of the end, but the final nail in the coffin didn’t actually come for another month. 

Evan had always been stubborn, after all.


End file.
